Human rights defender, Naji Fateel.
© Private
(Beirut) – Bahraini authorities have rearrested at least nine men who had previously been released from prison by royal pardon, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch said today.
The men, who were previously detained on politically motivated charges, were arrested in July and August 2026 for allegedly failing to pay fines dating back a decade. Bahraini authorities should immediately release them and cease all efforts to collect the dubious unpaid fines.
“King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s decision to pardon over 3,000 prisoners in the last two years earned immense praise from the international community, but these new arrests call into question whether the pardons were genuine,” said Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Those who praised the pardons should call on Bahrain to stop rearresting people and release those again detained.”
BIRD and Human Rights Watch spoke to three people, including Naji Fateel, a prominent Bahraini human rights defender who was among the nine rearrested and who spoke from detention. They also spoke to Mustafa al-Jamri and Hassan Burwase, who have not yet been rearrested, but who said the authorities were trying to detain them.
The arrests are happening against the backdrop of one of the biggest crackdowns by Bahrain’s authorities on freedom of expression and assembly since the widespread arrests following the 2011 pro-democracy protests. Since March, authorities have arrested over 600 people on various charges, including “supporting and endorsing a state hostile to Bahrain” and espionage, and at least 69 people of Iranian descent have been stripped of their Bahrain nationality, including many children.
Those interviewed said the issue was alleged unpaid fines imposed on them and 48 others accus
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